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WARSAW, Ind. (WANE) A Warsaw man has been formally charged with murder after he reportedly admitted to fatally beating his girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter and burying the toddler in a shallow grave.

Christopher A. Grimmett

Christopher A. Grimmett, 29, faces a single charge of murder in the Thursday death of 2-year-old Adalin P. Stamper.

Police were called just before 10:30 p.m. Thursday to a home at #53 EMS C17 Lane on Big Chapman Lake northeast of Warsaw on report of a missing person. There, 29-year-old Christopher A. Grimmett told investigators he was babysitting his girlfriend’s daughter, young Adalin, earlier in the day but the girl’s maternal grandmother had picked up the child.

It led officers to Grimmett’s brother’s home at 1835 Sue Ave. on Warsaw’s west side, where police said he’d been earlier in the afternoon with Adalin. There, in the back yard of the home, sheriff’s deputies found a shallow grave where Adalin’s body was uncovered, according to authorities.

According to a probable cause affidavit filed in Kosciusko County Circuit Court, Grimmett said he took a taxi in the evening, and a taxi driver told police he saw blood on Grimmett’s pants.

That report allowed police to secure a search warrant for the Sue Avenue home of Johnny Grimmett. Police said they found “substantial” blood inside the home, and a “suspicious” area in the backyard where leaves were cleared away and what appeared to be fresh dirt.

The home at 1835 Sue Ave.,Warsaw, where the body of a 2-year-old was found buried in a shallow grave Thursday, Nov. 10, 2016, is shown. (Chad Hill/Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department)

In an interview with police, Grimmett admitted he beat Adalin to death with his hands. He then said he buried her in the backyard of the home. An autopsy on young Adalin’s body showed she died of blunt force traumatic injuries, the affidavit said.

Grimmett is being held in the Kosciusko County Jail.

Grimmett has prior convictions for resisting arrest, drugs and battery by bodily waste, court records show. He’s also engaged in a custody battle for his own children, according to court records.